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2011-04-07 - The Thermometer Went Pop
During the recent mission to Huffman Island, a topic had been raised which had worried Ascian. Seril had asked, somewhat simply, whether the temperature at the Earth Cradle had been turned down. With him knowing that it had not been so - he figured the girl must be running a fever. However, after they both arrived at the Earth Cradle, and the Amenthes and Yatagarasu were both settled down, he was immediately dragged away. People from BAHRAM wanted his input on things. For a moment, he'd cast an appologetic look at Seril, who'd gotten out of her machine, and had raised a hand - to indicate that he'd talk to her soon. But in the end, talking to her 'soon' had turned into 'next day'. BAHRAM was doing a lot of things, and Ascian had not been able to concentrate very well at all. Half of the meeting, he'd just sat there with a glassy look. Multiple times, his physician had poked him and told him to pay attention, as things also had concerned him himself. There were not that many Orbital Frame aces in that organization, and whilst he was not one of the best, his input was still valued to some extents. The meeting was long and tedious, much was discussed about future plans, and their association with the Divine Crusaders. Now, Ascian is standing at Seril's room, knocking on her door. He looks dead tired, but he's brought his personal physician with him. A woman who'd come all the way over from the NUT facility. Brown long hair, a set of thin glasses, and a labcoat. Always a labcoat. "Seril?" Ascian asks, calling out for the girl. His left eye is still bandaged off, and his left leg too is still in wrappings. "You know --" the physician complains, "-- you really shouldn't be up." Seril, in contrast, has been feeling pretty great since the Huffman Island operation. Though the operation was a loss, the fact that she left the place only feeling drained - not drained *and* in incredible pain - is a high she hasn't felt before. And, driving away two different enemy units! She'd treated herself to some celebratory chocolate milk and retired to her quarters. While Ascian was pulled into boring meetings and briefings, Seril spent the majority of her next day studying again. She's still reading, chewing on the end of a mangled BIC pen when knuckles rap on her door. With a shout of surprise, the girl drops her pen and quickly marks her page, then closes the book and slides it under a stack of comics, "Um, just a minute!" The half-written letter (what terrible penmanship!) is likewise concealed. It's only then that she crosses the room, tugging her coat on and then pulling the door open. Those big blue eyes blink blankly at Ascian, and then his companion. "Big brother, who is this?" Nonetheless, she steps aside so the adults can both enter, and so she can close the door behind them. When the door opens, Ascian shows a tired smile, but doesn't come in yet, waiting for the invitation. "This is her?" The physician asks. "Yep." Ascian replies, and slowly limps on into the room. "Heya Seril. I am terribly sorry about not treating you to things personally. I got pulled into this /horribly/ boring meeting..." He explains, turning towards the physician for a moment. She sighs, placing a hand at the opposite side and shaking her head a bit. "Well, it was a bit lengthy I guess." And she heads on in as well. "This is my personal physician. She normally checks to make sure the Metatron Poisoning doesn't get too bad." Ascian explains. "He really overdoes it." The woman quickly adds. "He'll die if he keeps this up, or worse. Talk some sense into him, will you?" She requests of Seril as she closes the door behind her. "Anyhow." Ascian blatantly ignores that statement. "Remember how I said you might have a fever? I figured it'd be best to get you checked out properly. But... come here for a bit." The young man kneels half-way, so he's more at the girl's height. If she'd do as asked, Ascian would put his hand to her forehead, then put his own to that same hand. Somehow, this is supposed to allow him to tell if she has a fever or not. It also makes for really intimate proximities. "It's okay!" Seril nods twice with enthusiasm, "I understand, you had to work. Sometimes work really sucks. I treated myself, and I've been studying all day." She doesn't say what she was studying, though. Looking to the doctor, she frowns, then shoots a look at Ascian again. Bunching her hands up against her chest, the girl declares, "You're not allowed to die!" How authoratative. "I don't feel sick..." However, she does know that sometimes sick people don't realize it, so she does as she's asked, stepping closer. When he places his hand on her forehead, she just blinks. It's not an unknown gesture. Testing for fever this way is as old as time, even in La Gias. But while Seril doesn't look or feel at all sick, her face is very noticably warmer than it should be. Seril endures all of this with a nervously blank expression, her eyes wandering to the physician lady again "Don't worry." Ascian smiles at Seril, at close proximity, and bumps his nose against hers for a moment before he gets back up and ruffles her hair. "I'm not going to die." His tired smiles doesn't falter as he states this, though he does look like /he/ is the sick one. There's even that tell-tale sign of sleep deprivation... black underneath his eyes. His skin is a bit paler too, so he might look like he's dying... with a bit of imagination applied. "No worries." He repeats himself, and finally turns about. "She's a bit hot. Can you look at her?" And back to Seril. "I hope you don't mind. But I wanna make sure you're not sick." The young man then wobbles over to her bed and kind of... just sits on it and settles down - hanging his head down and letting his hair kind of form a bit of a mess, hanging forwards. This is something he rarely does, as he is normally the neatfreak. The physician lady smiles at Seril and moves down before her and puts down a little bag. Soon enough, she's grabbed a thermometer, and is offering it to her. "Please place it halfway into your mouth, and have the metal part touch your tongue." Seril leans forward a bit, amusingly timed to the same moment that Ascian leans back, "You're not going to die, but you look like you might." Placing her hands on her hips, the little princess declares, "You need to get sleep! And lots of it." Hesitating, she taps her chin, "And maybe a shower. A hot shower always helps, right?" But once the frame runner sits down, she turns her attention to the doctor, who produces some sort of alien device. Taking the thermometer in her hands, Seril blinks at it, examining the shape and the little digital window. After a moment, she nods and opens her mouth--ohjesuschristfangs--just to place it as instructed. "Waffs it go'n do?" it sure is awkward talking around something like that, isn't it? ~BEEP~ The thing turns on automatically and begins to measure the temperature. The physician lady patiently waits, whilst observing those fangs in somewhat of a shock. She quickly turns towards Ascian. "Fangs?" She asks. Ascian shrugs. "Your fault you didn't believe me." He's not sounding extremely happy at the moment. A tired sigh. "I don't really wanna take a shower right now honestly." He suddenly flops backwards and turns about, rudely taking up the entirety of Seril's bed; wearing that framerunner suit of his. He looks kinda weird like that. His eyes open, and he stares at the ceiling. "I know I need sleep. But I don't want to until you've been checked out." He rubs the back of his head a bit against her pillow, getting comfy, before turning about a bit and looking at Seril. "That's going to measure your temperature." The lady finally explains. "Aaaand." ~beep beep beep~ She takes it out. She stares. "That can't be right." She clicks on the reset button, and patiently gives it to Seril. "One more time." She demands. "Please?" Ascian quickly adds. Which of course, gets him a glare from the woman. She isn't used to dealing with kids. But, she does add; "Please?" The result probably gives the impression she'd been drinking hot coffee or cocoa, but there's no evidence of either drink in her quarters at all! She blinks once at the apparent wrongness of the reading, accepting the thermometer again, "So big brother told you about my teeth?" Grinning up at the woman, she shows them off, "They make me look cute, don't they?" ...well, maybe, in a manner of speaking. Dutifully, she slips the thermometer back in her mouth, casually swinging it off to the side while keeping the sensor under her tongue. This time, she won't talk until it's done. Maybe talking messed up the reading or something. Cute? The woman blinks. "I guess it's cute, if you have certain tastes. But yes, he did tell me. He was afraid I'd be scared or something." The woman explains all science-y. Still, it kind of unnerved her. "They're cute." Ascian adds. He manages not to add 'just like your wings'. After all, that was /their secret/. And Ascian is good at keeping those kind of secrets. As for finding her fangs cute. The bluehaired framerunner had a strange taste in women. And yes, it ought to be mentioned that he found Seril a bit attractive. But she was still, his little sister. So he behaved appropiately - even though his concept of a brother-sister relationship was a tad skewed from normality. When the second time, the reading comes out around 59.9 Celcius again, the woman shakes her head. "You should be dead right now, with this temperature." Blink. That makes for two people who ought to be dead in those room, but aren't? Of course, this statement does peek Ascian's attention too, but at least he was capable of making some jumps in logic. "I see. That'll be all then." He states firmly. The woman blinks. "But..." - "No, that'll be all." The woman blinks again, but decides it is no use to try convincing Ascian of anything, and just heads on out, leaving the framerunner there, sighing. "Hey, Seril?" He attempts to start a conversation. Seril beams. She really is cute! But before she winds up doing anything embarassing, she quickly tugs her coat down with both hands to stifle any excited fluttering before it can start. This way, the girl looks inexplicably proud of herself. She blinks lightly at the doctor's diagnosis, tilting her head, "..I should be?" Looking down, the girl continues, "But I feel fine." Ascian dismisses the woman, and so Seril nods and helpfully opens the door for her. With a bright smile, she bows slightly, "Thank you for your help!" After closing the door behind the woman, Seril folds her arms behind her back, regarding Ascian, "Yeah?" "How long has it been since you've noticed the temperature going down?" He pauses, then quickly explains, "Or rather, it seems like /your/ temperature has been going /up/. You see, the sensation of cold and warm is relative. If you come from a warm desert into a cold room, it is cold. But if you come from a colder cellar, into that same cold room, it may seem warm. I think that your temperature has been rising, rather than the Earth Cradle been lowering in temperature." He does hope she can follow his logic - therefore the example and all that. "Come here." He scoots back a bit on the bed and pats on the edge. He seems to be acting as if this was his room, almost. "Has Yatagarasu maybe been telling you things, or doing things oddly? Or is this just... the way things have been?" He then adds. Of course, Ascian can't help but wonder if perhaps the 'god' within her machine was doing this on purpose. "Or do you maybe know why this is going on?" The girl hums to herself thoughtfully as she listens, nodding slowly. It does make sense. Looking down thoughtfully, she raises a hand to rest on her chin, "...so..that's why you don't seem to mind cold things as much as I do." Hesitantly, she casts a look aside, "...And why my hot showers are cold." When the young man beckons her over, she thinks nothing of it. Seril sheds her coat and sits herself down beside her big brother, giving her tiny wings a stretch as she does so. "Yatagarasu..." She looks down, folding her hands loosely over her knees, "...He calls me his Divine Flame. I'm not sure how, but I *feel* that he cares about me, somehow. I'm starting to think these things it's doing...might not be on purpose." Seril's eyes shoot to the side, away from Ascian, "...When I open Yatagarasu's eye... when I'm inside it, that is the only time I've felt hot since I started piloting Yatagarasu." She turns her head, settling those blue eyes on the frame runner, "Maybe he did something... so I wouldn't die while piloting him?" Ascian nods at the girl, and kind of gives her a lookover, following her gaze as she casts that look of hers aside. "Yeah, that'd basically explain it." He says, then quickly looks at the door. It wasn't locked, but he didn't think anyone would barge in anyway, so he doesn't really warn the girl of the fact that the door is unlocked. His right hand, closest to her as she sits down, twitches a bit, but instead of reaching for those fluttery wings, he puts it on his belly along with his other hand and entwines his fingers. He's being good. And of course, the young man listens to her explaination of Yatagarasu. But, he has no reason to distrust her words. That is, besides the things she'd told him in the beginning. And those nightmares. Again, her gaze avoids him. He wonders what is up with that. "Are you sure that he isn't doing those things on purpose?" He asks. She looks at him again, and he locks his gaze with her, giving her a tired -- yet caring look. "I mean, your don't need wings and fangs to be resistant against heat." He finally moves his right hand up, but instead of going for the wings, he just tries to put it on her cheek - to show her that he cares about what she is going through. To comfort her a bit -- since he thought she needed it. "But maybe. Maybe there is some good in him too. Or he is just using you - and doesn't want you to die." Going back on their initial conversation. "I don't know. I can't hear him." Seril looks down again, thoughtfully focusing on her hands, "Yatagarasu first appeared in Helena as part of a legend, where it attacked the kingdoms and was sealed into its current form." She starts to twiddle her thumbs, "If..I remember the story right, its physical body was a huge three-legged crow, surrounded with flames." With her mind on the subject, her little wings flutter uneasily, "If..Yatagarasu is changing me so I can survive using it..then maybe these other things are accidental..." It sounds like even she isn't entirely convinced, though. Seril's eyes wander back to Ascian, "Does Duat have any feelings about what happens to you in Amenthes?" She lifts a finger, pointing gingerly towards the young man's face, "..Like, what's happening around your eyes?" "I doubt it. Seril. But, I will trust your decision if you wish to give Yatagarasu the benefit of the doubt for a bit." Ascian lets his hand move down from her cheek and lets it fall back to his belly. "But if its a creature that was sealed, and did such terrible things, I don't know if you can trust it to really have much good in its heart, can you?" He at least wants to put that seed of doubt into her, before he lets her truly make that decision on her own. He doesn't want her to end up badly. "As for Duat... Duat doesn't really have any feelings of her own, not that I can tell." There were times he doubted though. "As for Amenthes. Eh. Depends what mood /she/ is in. Sometimes she cares, sometimes she doesn't. Generally though, the change binds me to her. And me and Amenthes usually get along quite well." Cut to a flashback of Ascian and a materialized Amenthes (flaming woman with wings) in the cockpit kissing... which may or may not be a hallucination. Seril closes her eyes and starts to lean, coming to rest lightly against Ascian's side with a little 'hmm', "But that story was a long time ago. People can change, right? Maybe Yatagarasu changed. It wants to fix the bad things in the world." by burning them. Even though Seril is aware of this precise fact, she doesn't seem bothered by it. Though, she might not understand just how much of the world will need burning to satisfy the mad god. ..Hmm?" Those eyes open, blinking a few times as she looks up at him, "I thought Amenthes was the machine, and Duat was the creature that lived inside it. I didn't realize they were different creatures." intelligences, machines, whatever. "But it sounds similar.." She closes her eyes again, resuming her mildly affectionate leaning, "Though she might be nicer than Yatagarasu." When Seril leans in towards him, Ascian raises that hand again and places it against her arm, looking up at her from his sideways laying position. "I guess so." But Ascian was at least aware, from how Seril spoke - the things she said - just exactly how things were to be fixed. But he wasn't /sure/ this truly applied to the topic at hand. He wasn't /sure/ that burning is how the 'God' wished to fix the world. "Maybe. I still have my doubts." Perhaps it was just the fact that that machine creeped him out. He then pulls lightly on her, so she could snuggle up against him if she wanted or something. "Well, yes. Amenthes is the machine, and Duat is an Artifician Intelligence that lives within her. But the machine, Amenthes, has a spirit of her own. In a ways, Amenthes is the 'life' within the machine, where-as Duat is... kind of like her little assistant." That is the best, and the most cute way, he could explain that. "But I think she is indeed nicer than Yatagarasu." His other hand goes up to her head, and he pets a bit through her hair to perhaps calm her further. Seril does eventually relinquish and flop back beside her big brother, but in such a way that she winds up prone instead of on her back. The reasoning for this becomes clear when she fans her wings up and stretches them upward. The girl folds her arms under her chin, resting beside Ascian with her eyes closed, "..She does sound nice.. If she was a girl, I wonder if she'd be my friend~.." Her mind is starting to shut down, it seems. After all the excitement yesterday, and a hard day of studying, it seems Seril is pretty worn out. "Hmm~... ...Big brother?" Opening an eye, she glances in Ascian's direction, "...Do you think I should learn how to pilot other robots? So I won't have to use Yatagarasu all the time?" "She is a girl." Ascian replies. "Maybe you'll meet her one day." He continues to pet the girl's hair as she lays prone next to him. He too, was tired. That much had been obvious already. "Come here." He suddenly puts an arm around her back waist, and pulls her a bit closer against himself. He peeks at those wings, but is respectful enough not to touch them. No touching without permission, he has that still set firmly in his mind, and he will abide to that rule. "I'm sure she'd be friends with you." He adds. A sigh follows, and he closes his eyes. "Hrrm..." His consciousness is waning. Other robots? "Yeah. Probably." He didn't really know how to use other ones though, so he'd have a hard time teaching her about piloting any of them. Maybe he should learn together with her? "Talk about it tomorrow." He offers. "Sleepy... snuggles... little sister." Oh, he's gone alright. Tugged closer, Seril closes her eyes again with a little 'hmm~'. It's comfortable like this! And the lack of a blanket is barely noticable, as her body is quite a bit warmer than most. It's possible she isn't as tired as she seems! Is the manipulative little girl just lulling Ascian to sleep because he wouldn't do so when she told him to? Or is she actually passing out while tucked warmly against his side. "Hmm...Okay~..." Nope. As it turns out, Seril is about as subtle as a sack of rocks. She just drifted off. Category:Logs